Glass fibres that speed healing in initial venous stasis wound

Imagine a battlefield medic or emergency medical technician providing first aid with a special wad of cottony glass fibers that simultaneously slows bleeding, fights bacteria (and other sources of infection), stimulates the body's natural healing mechanisms, resists scarring, and-because it is quickly absorbed by surrounding tissue - may never have to be removed in follow-up care.

When applied to venous stasis wounds, borate glass nanofibers (above) developed at Missouri S&T and produced by the Mo-Sci Corporation appear to speed the healing process in a recent 12-person human trial. Credit Peter Wray; ACerS. (click image for high-resolution version)

Or, imagine diabetics with hard-to-heal wounds finding a source of relief from the battle against infections and limb amputation.

Those scenarios are the hope of the developers of a revolutionary borate glass nanofiber material, which appears have sped and helped the final of healing long-term wounds in eight out of 12 venous stasis wound sufferers in a recent clinical trial held at a medical center in Rolla, Mo.

Details about the trials and the glass fiber material were published today in the May issue of the American Ceramic Society's Bulletin magazine.

The story reports on the discovery of the fibers and on an empirical study that began late in the fall of 2010 supervised by the internal review board of the Phelps County Regional Medical Center. The trial groups originally had 13 volunteer members, but one dropped out during the early stages.

According to Peggy Taylor, the PCRMC registered nurse who administered the treatments, all of the volunteers in the trial are enthusiastic about the use of the glass fiber product, which she says ''looks like cotton candy.''